Courses and Reading Groups

International Legal Studies Courses and Reading Groups by Name
International Legal Studies Courses and Reading Groups by Subject Matter
International Legal Studies Courses and Reading Groups by Faculty Member

 HLS students may draw on the more than 300 offerings at the Law School, including over 90 courses and reading groups in which international, comparative, or foreign law plays an important role. Scores of students also take part in law clinics focused on international matters. Many courses reach far beyond the pages of a casebook and provide students opportunities to learn about global issues in unique and powerful ways.

For example, Globalization, Lawyers, and Emerging Economies (Professor David Wilkins) investigated the ways in which globalization is reshaping the market for legal services in important emerging economies such as China, India, and Brazil and how practices that are developed in these rapidly expanding markets are likely to affect the transformation in legal practice and legal institutions already taking place in the US and other developed countries.

Another example is Humanitarian Protection in Situations of Armed Conflict (Ms. Bonnie Docherty), a clinical seminar that featured a practice component through the International Human Rights Clinic. In addition to reading relevant literature and participating in class discussion, students utilized role-playing exercises on fact-finding, media work, conflict analysis, and public briefing skills to explore several methodologies that practitioners use to promote civilian protection standards, assessing both the promises and limitations of each strategy.

In addition, HLS hosts a wide range of visiting faculty and lecturers during the academic year.

The Law School also provides an array of opportunities for students to conduct research or study abroad, and take classes elsewhere at Harvard University, the Fletcher School at Tufts University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, through cross-registration and enrollment in joint degree programs. The HLS Academic Affairs Office provides descriptions of sample courses of study for several areas of focus within international and comparative law, which also includes links to cross-registration courses possibly of interest at the aforementioned schools.